Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Let's Roll Up Our Sleeves and Get Caught Up. Sorta.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since our Big Week. That's how I think of it, anyway. Our Big Week.

First, our Hamiltons came to visit. Dear people that they are, they stayed with us in the torpor-inducing heat at the end of a long road trip with their teething toddler daughter. They could have moseyed on home and enjoyed the air-conditioned splendor of their Boise abode. But they stuck it out. And that, my friends, is friendship. Here we are making the best of a sorry situation, with margaritas to cool and cheer us:

On Friday, June 27, our Boise house closed without a hitch. Cue the angel choirs. We'd had to sign the papers over here, cross our fingers and say a prayer that we'd done everything correctly before we had the documents notarized and Fedexed back to Boise. Phew.

That alone would have qualified for Big Week status, but, just to spice it up a little, we also made an offer on a house and spent the week negotiating... and...got ourselves a house! As the house is a split level from 1971, I figured it would be prudent to keep this happy news to ourselves until after the inspection. Which went swimmingly well. And, since we signed all the documents today, I feel quite comfortable making an official announcement. Here's a peek at the front:

And guess what? We didn't go city OR suburbs! We went small town. Yep, our new home is Camas, WA, which borders the eastern end of Vancouver. Camas is known for its excellent schools. Our neighborhood is known as Mountain View, due to its spectacular views of Mt. Hood. I'll tell you more when I post some photos after we take possession of the house this Thursday. We are thrilled to be moving INTO this house and OUT of the (still) stinky, noisy rental.

After the Big Week came the Slightly Less Big But Only In Terms of Numbers of Events, Not Their Magnitude Week. Shaun's sister Kim came out from California with her family to spend the 4th of July with Oregon folks and to be sure to get in a visit with Grandpa Jensen (that's Chick), as his health was so poor. We went out and stayed with the Grandmartins to all be together. Here are the boys watching the fireworks:

They had a grand time.

That day Chick's dialysis failed, and we spent a lot of time with family over the next few days as his health declined rapidly. That brings us up to my previous post. On July 10 we had a graveside service and a wonderful church celebration of Chick's life. His three sons-in-law were the speakers, per Chick's request. They all did a great job, but the very best part of the service was hearing Chick's own words, in anecdotes told by his sons-in-law and quoted from his autobiography. I can't wait to get my hands on that.

Well, we've made significant progress here. There's more to show and tell, but it will keep. Let's end with a smile.

2 comments:

Gretchen said...

Oh, what a grand house you guys bought! It looks like it is the kind of house you could get very comfortable in.
Congratulations! =)

Gypmar said...

Thanks, Gretchen! You've hit the nail on the head...it is indeed the most comfortable of houses.